Top 5 pacers in International cricket and their only wicket through stumping

MS Dhoni stood up to the stumps for Irfan Pathan during the 2007 home ODI series against Australia and ended up affecting a couple of stumpings. Irfan was successful in making the batsmen lose their balance while Dhoni, with his quick glove work, provided the breakthrough. Stumping in the bowling of a pacer might not be rare as one expects but the same happening twice in space of a week in Dhoni-Pathan’s case is unique.

Most of the big names in International Cricket are not used to stumping dismissals. A total of 25 pace bowlers have scalped 500 and more wickets at the highest level but just five of them have had a wicket through stumping.

Here we look at the pacers who have picked 500+ International wickets but only one via stumping:

5. Kapil Dev – Greg Ritchie in 1986

The 6-match ODI series between India and Australia was tied at 1-1 before the 3rd match hosted by Hyderabad. Between the 2nd and the 3rd ODI, the two teams met in the Chennai Test which ended in a Tie. India, who narrowly lost during the 2nd ODI in Jaipur, elected to field first after winning the toss. Australia’s top three batters got starts but all fell in a quick span leaving them 111/3 in 28.3 overs. Greg Ritchie, who walked to bat at No.5, played a crucial role in powering the Australians to a solid total.

Ritchie batted together with Steve Waugh to add quick runs after the visitors lost half the side at the score of 159. The duo added 83 runs in 9.4 overs before Ritchie was stumped by Chandrakant Pandit on the last ball of Australia’s innings in the bowling of Kapil Dev. It was the first and only wicket via stumping for Kapil Dev in his International career where he scalped a total of 687 wickets. Interestingly, some news reports of the match suggest that Ritchie was caught behind.

As there is no video footage available, we can assume Pandit was standing up to Ritchie who was beaten playing a shot on the last ball. Greg Ritchie scored 75 from only 53 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes as Australia reached 242/6 in 47 overs before their innings halted due to India’s slow-over rate. The Indian team were 41/1 in 10.4 overs during their chase before a storm put an end to the match without the result being determined.